Porte de Vincennes hostage crisis

The Porte de Vincennes hostage crisis occurred on 9 January 2015 when Islamic State member Amedy Coulibaly (who had shot a policewoman dead a day before) took hostages at the Hypercacher kosher food supermarket in east Paris, France. Equipped with two Tokarev pistols and an assault rifle, Coulibaly entered the supermarket and killed four Jewish customers (including two men who attempted to overcome him and free other hostages) before taking 15 hostages. Initially, it was speculated that his wife Hayat Boumeddiene was an accomplice, but she was already en route to Syria to fight for jihad. Coulibaly said that the attack was revenge for the Western coalition's actions against the Islamic State, as well as vengeance for the Palestinians. A Malian shop assistant helped to hide some customers in a cold storage room in the basement, and he also alerted a friend of his about the crisis; the friend told the police, who prepared a rescue operation. Coulibaly threatened to harm the hostages if his fellow cell members and jihadi fugitives Cherif and Said Kouachi were harmed. At 5:09 PM, very loud stun grenades went off at four places around the supermarket, and heavily armed police surrounded the shop. Someone opened the shutters and automatic sliding doors to the supermarket, leading to Coulibaly charging to the entrance to attack the police; he was gunned down during his suicidal attack.